Federal Student Aid and the Tier 4 application

Apologies if this has already been covered, but I spent a while searching the forum and I couldn't find the answers to my specific questions, so I thought some of you may be able to help me with this. So here goes:

1. All of my finances for a year-long master's program are being covered by federal student aid in the form of student loans, so I'm neither self-funding nor am I technically sponsored. I won't have any of the money in my account, since the money isn't disbursed until classes start in September. How would I go about checking the correct boxes in the Appendix if none of the options really apply to me? I figure somebody must've had this problem already and knows what to do.

2. I just received my student loan award letter from my school, which means I've only just been able to finish up my tier 4 application. I leave for the UK on September 19th. Is this even enough time for my visa application to go through? I'm riddled with anxiety, especially since there wasn't much I could do in order to send in the application any earlier. Thoughts?

I guess that's it for now! I'm new to the forum as well, so, hi! Thanks a ton.

Hi Megu,

I've been lurking this forum for awhile and found it to be very helpful as i am preparing to go the UK to for grad school in Sept. I specifically registered to answer your question because I am/was in the same exact situation as you.

1) I fully financed the cost of the degree (incl. living expenses or maintenance funds) solely through the use of US Federal Loans (Stafford+Grad Plus).  Regarding Appendix 8:
Question 6.15 (Part 6) asks you to select which evidence of financial sponsorships you will be providing. The two options to check are...
    A)An original letter to confirm the financial sponsorship from an official financial sponsor or government sponsor
    B) You are receiving official financial sponsorship from your Tier 4 licensed sponsor and details of the financial sponsorship are included in the CAS.

In your (and my) case, the option to check off would be A since we will be receiving loans directly from the US Government. Your school should provide an award letter detailing all the info (make sure it is in the school's letterhead, signed/stamped and etc). You will need to submit this with your Tier 4 application as a supporting document. Be sure to submit the original letter and not just a copy. This was all confirmed by the Student Support Officer of the school I will be attending.

2) You have PLENTY of time to submit your visa application. I submitted mine 2 weeks ago and got a confirmation from the NYC consulate that the normal processing time for Tier 4 application (along with most other types) is close to 10 days. If you want to be extra careful and live close to NYC (or any other consulates in major cities), you may opt to use the Premium Service for an extra $100. With this service, you will be given an appointment to bring in your application and supporting documents directly to the consulate for processing. They usually take another 48 hrs to process the visa after that. So you may technically be able to have your visa within 5 days or so. Not a bad deal if you are in a rush I suppose. You can check the processing times at the NYC consulate here:
http://ukinusa.fco.gov.uk/en/about-us/other-locations/ny/news/ukba-news/ [nofollow]

So relax, you are on the right track. If you have any further questions, please do not hesitate to ask. Best of luck!  

Aeronut, you are my hero! I was leaning towards checking that box, in the appendix, haha, but I'm so glad to have that cleared up. I heard they could reject your application for mistakes, so I didn't want to do something wrong. And the processing time takes a load off my mind; I was gonna have a nervous breakdown. Thanks for making my life a bit less stressful!

Hi Megu,

Not sure if you are still following this thread but I received my visa yesterday by mail.  So here is a rough timeline for your reference:

July 3: Tier 4 Application submitted
July 8: Biometric appointment
July 10: Supporting documents mailed
July 13: Delivered to British Consulate
July 18: E-mail from consulate to confirm receipt (don't know why it took 5 days)
July 21: E-mail from consulate to confirm that an Entry Clearance Officer has been assigned to make decision
July 22: E-mail from consulate to confirm that entry clearance has been granted
July 25: Received back passport and supporting docs via UPS

So there you have it, all in all it took just over 3 weeks. This was done through standard processing as I opted not to use the premium service.

Best of luck in your application!

Brilliant, this is super helpful and takes a load off my mind. I'll be mailing my application tomorrow, so if mine goes through as quickly as yours I'll definitely have enough time. Thanks again!

Hello to you both..

I'm a bit confused because other users on this site have said that US Federal Aid Loans are not considered an "Official Government Sponsor" because you are considered self-funded with a loan (because you are paying it back). Because of this, they say to check off "No" in question 6.14 and skip to question 6.17 (select "YES"), and go to 6.20 and tick off "Letter from a regulated financial institution confirming funds or the agreement of a loan". I have the letter, so either way I think the UK boarder agency can figure it out, but I just want to make sure I tick off the right thing..

I'm so confused because from my school's help form for filling out Appendix 8, it seems like you both are correct.. But I can also see why the other side seems correct. Maybe I'm making a bigger deal out of this than it needs to be, but I just want to make sure I'm filling this out correctly.

Would GREATLY appreciate yours or anyone's help!

Thanks in advance!

Hello to you both..

I'm a bit confused because other users on this site have said that US Federal Aid Loans are not considered an "Official Government Sponsor" because you are considered self-funded with a loan (because you are paying it back). Because of this, they say to check off "No" in question 6.14 and skip to question 6.17 (select "YES"), and go to 6.20 and tick off "Letter from a regulated financial institution confirming funds or the agreement of a loan". I have the letter, so either way I think the UK boarder agency can figure it out, but I just want to make sure I tick off the right thing..

I'm so confused because from my school's help form for filling out Appendix 8, it seems like you both are correct.. But I can also see why the other side seems correct. Maybe I'm making a bigger deal out of this than it needs to be, but I just want to make sure I'm filling this out correctly.

Would GREATLY appreciate yours or anyone's help!

Thanks in advance!

I would just mark evidence not required under guidance but held by the applicant, unless you are planning to send in the letter anyway.

Hello to you both..

I'm a bit confused because other users on this site have said that US Federal Aid Loans are not considered an "Official Government Sponsor" because you are considered self-funded with a loan (because you are paying it back). Because of this, they say to check off "No" in question 6.14 and skip to question 6.17 (select "YES"), and go to 6.20 and tick off "Letter from a regulated financial institution confirming funds or the agreement of a loan". I have the letter, so either way I think the UK boarder agency can figure it out, but I just want to make sure I tick off the right thing..

I'm so confused because from my school's help form for filling out Appendix 8, it seems like you both are correct.. But I can also see why the other side seems correct. Maybe I'm making a bigger deal out of this than it needs to be, but I just want to make sure I'm filling this out correctly.

Would GREATLY appreciate yours or anyone's help!

Thanks in advance!

I concur with aBlessing. Since you will be considered a "low risk" applicant, you can check off the not required.

Despite what others are repeatedly saying, I did not have a single issue with the way I filled out Appendix 8 (as mentioned above). If i was wrong, the Entry Clearance Officer clearly had the common sense to figure out the fact that I was funding myself entirely with federal loans (as it was stated in the letter prepared by the University).

I also applied JUST BEFORE the new rules and regulations about "low risk" applicants kicked in (applied July 3rd and new rules came into effect on July 4) so I did not have the option of not providing some of the supporting documents.

 

Despite what others are repeatedly saying, I did not have a single issue with the way I filled out Appendix 8 (as mentioned above). If i was wrong, the Entry Clearance Officer clearly had the common sense to figure out the fact that I was funding myself entirely with federal loans (as it was stated in the letter prepared by the University).

You may not have had an issue, but it still wasn't technically correct, and it doesn't necessarily mean that someone else might not have an issue.  Yes, in general an ECO will probably be able to figure it out no matter what you put, they know how these loans work.  However, when giving advice it's best to stick to telling someone the way it's expected to be done, even if you didn't have a problem.

This is the one part of the application I'm confused about. :-/ I am pretty sure I initially filled it out wrong. I have received stafford and grad plus loans for my course. On the CAS, my university states the course fees are 9,500. Since I'm not in London, the maintenance fees needed are 5,400 (according to the guidance doc, I don't calculate for the entire year, and what you put it supposed to be 5,400, right??). Now, the university didn't specify what accommodation fees are on the CAS letter. So...is this included in the maintenance fees?

As it stands, I have 6.14 YES (US government). Then, 6.15 An original letter yadda yadda selected. Then, I put the total amount I was getting in 6.16. On 6.17, YES. Then, I also got confused here, but I just filled out the same two numbers (course fees (9,500) and maintenance (5,400)) from earlier. Then, 6.18, I put NO.

But, this is wrong, correct?

After reading these threads, this is now what I think I need to do.

6.14: NO
6.17: YES
Course fees: 9,500
Maintenance: 5,400
Total: 14,900
6.18: YES?
6.20: Letter from a regulated financial institution confirming funds or the agreement of a loan. (I realize I don't need to include this under the differentiation rules, but I want to send it anyway, just in case. This just doesn't seem accurate since my loan letter is the CAS letter from the university?)

Anyone?

This whole thing is stressing me to death.

Also, as the amounts on the application are written in pounds and the loans are in dollars, do I note this anywhere?

Also, as the amounts on the application are written in pounds and the loans are in dollars, do I note this anywhere?

See my response in this thread.  Hopefully it will answer both questions